House of Cards
by V. Shalyr
Summary: It all started when the strange side effects of yet another failed cure leave Shinichi in the care of an unusual magician. Eventually KaiShin
1. Shuffle

**Summary**: It all started when the strange side effects of yet another failed cure leave Shinichi in the care of an unusual magician.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Pairing(s)**: Kaito x Shinichi

**WARNINGS: Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned **

**AN**: I originally didn't want to put up any other stories until I finished "With Each Season", but I've been drawing a total blank on the events of the last chapter for that story, so I've decided that it'll just have to wait. This one might be a little weird, but I hope you enjoy it:)

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**House of Cards**

**By V. Shalyr**

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**1. Shuffle**

Shinichi groaned, struggling to open his eyes. What happened? Everything felt off, but his mind was spinning and it was so hard to focus enough to fit together all the fuzzy fragments of memory. Every part of him ached and there was a dull throbbing in his shoulder.  
He had been at a KID heist. He'd been looking forward to that heist, if he was honest with himself. More than two years as Conan had rather worn down his enthusiasm for murder cases. He still found some satisfaction from placing the killers behind bars, but more than anything the cases left him feeling a little down. People almost never died at KID heists and that was more than enough to draw him there, not to mention the lure of the thief's puzzles and tricks.  
He would have been quite excited if it weren't for one thing.  
Shinichi had been attending the heist as a dove.  
Haibara had given him another test cure, and it had worked for two whole days—two whole days where he'd finally allowed himself to become properly excited—until something completely strange had happened. And it had happened just moments after he arrived at the museum. Shocked had been a complete understatement. Never in his wildest nightmares would he have imagined that a human being could be turned into a small, white bird because of a medical accident. Then again, before Conan, he would never have imagined that a mere pill could turn a sixteen year old boy into a six year old child.  
Apparently, the world really was full of surprises.  
But what had happened after that? He recalled struggling to extricate himself from his suddenly way too large clothes then struggling even harder to drag his clothes somewhere out of sight so no one would freak out thinking he was running naked through the streets. He could have flown home after that, but Shinichi had been tired of letting the poison and its experimental antidotes rule his life. So maybe it was a completely pointless, stubborn act of rebellion. But he'd planned on attending the KID heist, damn it! And so attend it he would, as a dove or not. He was not going to admit that he was sulking. It wasn't like it could cause any more harm, right?  
It was almost amazing how he could be right about so many things at a murder scene and yet wrong about so many other things the moment a crime was not involved.  
Obviously, he couldn't join the chase for KID as a bird, but it did give him an unparalleled view of the goings on. Maybe that was why he saw the sniper.

Ah, that must be why everything hurt. He had been shot at, and hit too. The glancing blow had sent him crashing from the skies to a bruising landing on the cold concrete. He didn't remember much after that, just being picked up by a gentle pair of hands and the murmur of a concerned voice.  
At least he could be almost positive that he hadn't been taken by the gunman.  
/ Is he awake? /  
/ I think so. /  
/ I'll go get Master. /  
Shinichi frowned. Well, that was a weird conversation. Forcing his eyes open, he blinked a couple times then stared. He was surrounded by a circle of white birds. The doves stared back at him with what he assumed was probably curiosity. Hold on, so the voices he had heard...  
/ Greetings! / the bird directly before him cooed enthusiastically. / Are you feeling better? /

Kaito had been in the kitchen making hot chocolate when one of his doves landed on the counter beside his hand. He'd been having a rather bad day up to that point. Meetings with his would-be assassins never put him in a good mood, Hakuba was always even more of a nuisance than usual on days following a heist, Aoko was upset because her father had apparently missed out on their family dinner—also because of the heist, and then there was the matter of the strange dove.

Kaito was almost sure it had been trying to save his life.

"Ah, is our guest finally awake?"

He had done the bulk of the cleaning for the dove's injuries while it was unconscious, but you could never be too careful, especially with birds. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to remove any feathers to ensure the wounds healed cleanly.

The dove cooed, bobbing its head up and down in its own version of a nod. Kaito did love how intelligent all his birds were.

"Let's go see how he is then."

Finishing up his steaming mug of hot chocolate, Kaito retrieved a tray of medical supplies he'd deemed might be necessary and walked towards his room, the dove fluttering ahead of him.

.

Shinichi was having trouble wrapping his mind around the situation. It now occurred to him that maybe it had been more of a shock to be turned into a bird than he'd at first thought. He'd simply pushed the shock away temporarily in favor of more normal things, like being annoyed about not being able to properly attend the KID heist. Since when had KID heists become "normal" in his life? But no, that wasn't the important thing here. The important thing was that he was surrounded by _birds_, and they were _talking_ to him—and he _understood_ them.

When he didn't reply right away to its inquiry, the doves turned their heads to look at one another as though concerned.

/ Do you think he understands us? You know how most other doves don't. /

/ I know, but I think he looks pretty bright. /

/ Well, I think he's in shock. /

/ What should we do? /

/ Let's just wait for Master to get here. Master will know what to do. /

Shinichi might have felt a bit indignant about their comments on his intelligence if he weren't so busy feeling relieved that they had backed off to give him some space. Space, at the moment, felt extremely important. Being injured suddenly seemed like the least of his problems. If he'd felt helpless as a child before, he felt even worse as a dove. And he was stuck here in someone's house!

Before Shinichi could properly start to panic however, he caught the sound of footsteps. All the other doves turned expectantly. Copying their motion, he looked to the door only to find himself looking at a young man who could have passed for his twin brother—if he was still human, that is, and his proper age. The newcomer looked like he might have been a year or so older than him. His features were a little sharper, his hair a whole lot messier and brown instead of black, but all those things were small differences that other people could easily overlook. The biggest difference between the two of them was in the way they held themselves. While Shinichi tended to give off an air of calm surety, this young man practically radiated with a calculating, energetic and restless confidence that reminded the detective of someone he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Hold on a second. Shinichi had been at a KID heist, he was surrounded by doves right now, and he knew that KID could disguise himself as the Detective of the East without a mask... The pieces all clicked together in his head and Shinichi stared.

Was this... KID?

"Let's have a look at you," the thief murmured, taking a seat in front of the desk.

Mind still whirling at the suddenness of this revelation, Shinichi automatically tried to scramble away from him, half hopping and half flapping his wings despite the pain that shot through him at the movement. He didn't get very far though as large hands deftly caught him. The man was obviously very familiar with working with birds.

"Now, now, none of that. You're going to hurt yourself even more that way."

Shinichi stared anxiously up at him. The thief just smiled, his fingers moving over him in a firm, gentle caress that he found himself relaxing into despite himself. When the man was sure the bird wasn't going to start struggling again, he carefully spread Shinichi's wings to examine the extent of his injuries. The face above him darkened at the sight of the damage, and Shinichi wondered just how bad it was. Birds were a lot smaller than human beings. It stood to reason that a bullet wound, even a glancing one like this, would be worse for a dove than a person.  
"That bastard," the man muttered, reaching for the tray of medical supplies he had prepared beforehand. "And you're not even one of mine."

Shinichi blinked up at him. If he'd had doubts that this was KID before, he didn't now. But did that mean that the thief knew that sniper? Had that been a regular occurrence at KID heists and Shinichi just hadn't known? These questions and others gave him something to distract himself with while the thief tended and patched up the numerous cuts and scrapes.

"Well, it seems you're going to be just fine, though you won't be flying much for awhile," KID told him, sounding both glad and sympathetic. "I hope you don't mind staying here. At least you won't be lonely. Who knows? Maybe you'll like it here."

Replacing the medical supplies and moving them aside, the thief carefully picked the dove back up and lifted him so that they were more or less at eye level.

His eyes, Shinichi noticed, were a very unusual shade of indigo, and they were watching him so intently that he found himself shifting self consciously in the thief's grasp.

"Were you trying to help me back there?"

The thief's intense gaze didn't waver and Shinichi wondered if he was actually expecting an answer. Several seconds dragged by in silence then KID grinned.

"You kind of remind me of someone," he mused aloud, using two fingers to pet the top of Shinichi's head. He chuckled to himself. "Why don't we call you Shin-chan?"

Shinichi had never liked that nickname and he would have glared at the thief except that the name had caught him by surprise. Had the thief been thinking about him?

.

"So where's the brat?"

Ran blinked, pausing with her hand still on the agency door at Sonoko's question. It took her a moment to realize who her friend was referring to. "Oh, you mean Conan? It's almost Christmas and he's spending the holidays with his parents."

"So they're back in town, huh?"

"I guess so, but I think they were considering a family vacation overseas."

"I wish we could go overseas for the holidays," Sonoko sighed, folding her arms across her chest as she waited for Ran to finish locking up the apartment. "But my father wants to throw a party at that new hotel he's sponsoring and I'm expected to be there. Say, why don't you come with me? You can bring your father too. I'm sure he'd be ecstatic."

Ran smiled weakly at that. "I'm sure he would."

Really though, she had other things she really wanted this Christmas—namely, for both her parents to spend it together with her. The trick was how to get them to agree to it. She rather thought that she had a better chance of tricking them into it, but her mother wasn't nearly that easy to fool.

"So where is that no good husband of yours anyway?" Sonoko added, glancing sidelong at her then at the manor they were passing. The same manor that their missing friend had been living in alone since he was fourteen.

"He's not my husband," Ran sighed, exasperated. She was really getting tired of explaining this to her. "He's not even my boyfriend. And I don't know. He called to say he might be dropping by for the holidays, but I haven't heard anything else since."

"You don't sound as upset as I thought you'd be," Sonoko observed.

Ran shrugged. Now that she mentioned it, she didn't really feel that upset about it. There was disappointment there, but it was the normal kind of disappointment that you got when someone you considered a good friend couldn't pay a visit because of one reason or another. Maybe it had just been too long, and somewhere along the way, she'd decided that she couldn't keep on waiting for him this way. It was no way to live. If he did come back and they talked and they both still felt that connection she'd thought they had, then maybe they could pursue something more. But until that happened, she wasn't going to hold her breath hoping. It wasn't worth it.

"I just don't understand you sometimes," Sonoko huffed then grinned, slinging an arm through hers. "I bet there'll be tons of hot guys at Dad's party. All sorts of celebrities will be attending."

.

From the window of Doctor Agasa's house, Ai watched the two girls pass the Kudou manor and continue down the street. The child frowned, her brow knitting in a serious expression of concern that didn't seem to quite fit onto such a young face.

Her cell phone rang and she answered it at once. "So?"

"What? Not even a thank you for coming all this way to help?" the familiar voice of the high school detective Hattori Heiji came through the receiver. Or she supposed it would be the college detective soon. He'd be graduating high school this year.

"Just get to the point. This is urgent."

"Right, sorry. I'm not sure how to say this," Hattori said slowly, "but the only things I managed to find were his clothes."

The little girl's frown deepened. Well, if Shinichi had shrunk again, it would explain the clothes. However, it wouldn't explain why he'd simply left them lying around. She drummed her fingers on the windowsill for a moment before making her way back through the house towards her laboratory. "Bring them to me."

Whatever had happened to Kudou Shinichi, she had a responsibility to find out and fix it. After all, she still held herself partly responsible for the mess he was in, having been the one to create the poison that had turned him into Conan in the first place. It didn't matter how often he told her that it wasn't her fault. She was a scientist and that meant she would take responsibility for the things that she created, and maybe it was a matter of pride too.

.

The call ended and Hattori pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at it. It still felt weird after all this time to be ordered around by a girl less than half his age, but she had this way of speaking that sounded so sure of herself that even adults who didn't know who she had been tended to find themselves doing what she told them to.

"What have you gotten yourself into now?" he sighed, retrieving the discarded clothes and stuffing them into a bag he'd procured from a nearby store. At least there weren't any traces of blood on or around them. That was usually a good sign.

"Heiji!"

He jerked upright at the cry only to be smacked upside the head by the girl it belonged to.

"Ow!" he complained, rubbing the sore spot. "What was that for?"

Kazuha's long ponytail swung as she put her hands on her hips. "I can't believe you! Do you know how long I've been looking for you? We were at the station and then you were just gone. What if something had happened to you? Knowing you, it would have been something terrible and I wouldn't even have known where to start looking. You could have called."

"You didn't have to come, you know," he grumbled. "And I can take care of myself."

She looked away. "I know, but it's the holidays. I wanted us to spend them together. If I hadn't come, who knows how long it would have taken for you to come home?"

Green eyes softened and Hattori moved to wrap his free arm about her shoulders. He couldn't really blame her for worrying. There just seemed to be something about being a genius, high school detective that meant you always got into more than your fair of trouble, usually involving dead bodies and murderers. "Well, we're here together now, right? Just let me drop this off at the professor's and we can have a look around. I have a whole list of restaurants I wanted to try."

"It's always about food with you when we visit a place," Kazuha sighed, but she was smiling. Food was better than corpses any day. Sure, she loved how happy he was when he solved a case. But it was almost Christmas. The holidays weren't a time that she wanted to think about people taking other people's lives for stupid reasons—or even halfway decent reasons. The holidays were supposed to be a time of forgiveness, of sharing and spending time with the people that you loved. And for once, Kazuha just wished that they could have a normal winter break.

"So does that mean we'll be staying for awhile?"

"Yeah." Hattori turned his head away so she wouldn't see the worry that flashed across his face. "Yeah, I think we will."

.

It was hard for Shinichi to pinpoint exactly when his relationship with the infamous and much beloved Phantom Thief had changed. They had always had a strange sort of rival-ally dynamic, which Hattori had once remarked upon being a little peculiar in itself. But overtime, something about it had shifted. He hadn't really noticed until KID himself had pointed it out after one particular heist...

"_Is there something wrong, Tantei-kun?" _

_Shinichi blinked, looking over at the thief from where he had been sitting in the shadows a little ways from the door that led up onto the roof. "Not really. Why?" _

"_Well," the thief drawled, turning to face him, the moonlight glinting off his monocle and making his grin seem even more lopsided than usual, "you haven't really been trying to catch me lately. Growing fond of me, Tantei-kun?" _

_The half question, half statement made the detective stutter. "Of—of course not! Who said I wasn't trying?" _

_KID made a great show of considering this. "Let me see. You _did_ join the chase downstairs and you're here now on my escape route, but you're not even on your feet." _

"_I just don't see the point of exerting myself when you're just going to give the jewel back anyway." _

"_Ah, of course, that must be it." _

_Shinichi—or rather Conan at the time—was sure that the thief was laughing at him behind that smirk. _

"_Why do you steal gems?" the detective asked instead, wanting to steer the conversation elsewhere and seizing on the questions he'd been contemplating for some time now off and on. "What are you looking for?" _

.

...Shinichi didn't remember the thief's answer, something vague and puzzling. It didn't really matter since he hadn't really expected a straightforward reply. This was KID after all. But the entire conversation had gotten him thinking.

What exactly did the thief mean to him? If he was honest with himself, Shinichi had to admit that he no longer really cared for the idea of putting the enigmatic magician behind bars. That didn't mean he didn't still want to know who he was, or that he wasn't curious about the magician's mysteries. But he no longer cared so much if he was the one who figured them out. If anything, he found a tiny part of him that seemed less confused than the rest that hoped the thief would just tell him someday.

That was when it hit him what was different.

Somewhere along the line, he'd started to think of the thief as a friend.

KID knew all his secrets. Shinchi had nothing to hide from him. He could be himself—not Kudou Shinichi, the famous detective, or Edogawa Conan, the startlingly bright child and shadow of Detective Mouri Kogoro. And on top of that, KID was a master thief so he didn't have to worry about the thief accidentally letting his secrets slip where the wrong people could hear them. After living as Conan for two years, Shinichi couldn't even begin to say how much of a relief that really was, and how much of a gift.

In light of all that plus this recent development, Shinichi was having a hard time figuring out what he should do. He'd been fed and watered, courtesy of his new caretaker, and now sat huddled on his desk, trying to put some distance between himself and the magician's other curious birds. One of them in particular just kept staring at him and it was making him uncomfortable. What had KID gone to do that was taking him so long?

/ What? / he finally snapped, feeling a bit defensive.

This seemed to shock all the doves for a moment before the first one who had spoken to him—at least he thought it was the first one, it sounded kind of the same—piped up in astonishment.

/ So you do understand us! My name is Aka. It's a pleasure to meet you, Shin-chan. /

/ That's not... / Shinichi started then trailed off. Well, he couldn't exactly say that it wasn't his name. His mother still called him that more often than not.

/ You mean you had another name before Master named you? / Aka asked, surprised. / Did you used to live with another human? /

/ You... could say that. / This was just getting weirder and weirder.

/ Hey, I want to ask a question too! /

/ Me first! Me first! /

/ That's not fair, Zam. Why do you always get to go first? /

/ Because I'm the youngest. /

/ Then you should be going last. /

Shinichi tried to draw in on himself as the doves crowded around him, their feathery bodies pressing in from all sides as they argued in increasingly loud voices. Claustrophobia was starting to kick in with a vengeance and he tried to flap his wings in an attempt to clear some space for himself, only for the pain to halt him mid motion.

"Hey, hey, watch it there, all of you."

At the reprimand from the door, the doves stopped squabbling and Shinichi sighed in relief as the hands from before plucked him out from amidst the flock.

Cradling Shinichi to him, the thief glared. "Don't crowd him. Can't you tell you're all making him nervous?"

The doves looked suitably ashamed, and Shinichi wondered again at just how much they apparently understood of human speech. Or maybe it was just the tone of KID's voice.

Muttering something under his breath, KID carried him back out of the room and set him down on a couch cushion he relocated to the sitting room table. It looked like the magician had been going through his school books. Shinichi couldn't help feeling a bit guilty as he glanced over them. It felt like he was intruding on the thief's civilian life without permission, even if it wasn't by choice. Though maybe it wasn't so wrong of him, since he'd already decided that he wouldn't act on anything that he learned?

"You're pretty unusual, aren't you?" KID murmured, taking a seat at the table and reaching for a textbook without looking away from Shinichi. "Most doves like the company of other doves."

Shinichi shuddered. He'd never much liked being surrounded by so many people at the best of times. The paranoia he'd picked up from his time as Conan hadn't helped matters.

The thief chuckled at his response. "Ah well, that just means you get to keep me company. A bit strange though, that you're more comfortable with a human than with other birds."

Not being able to speak, Shinichi decided, was more than a bit of a pain. Instead, he tilted his head to one side and tried to look confused.

This earned him another amused look before the thief settled down to finish what Shinichi guessed was his homework.

Shinichi shifted around a bit to get more comfortable and sighed tiredly. Well, he might as well take this opportunity to learn more about his rival turned sort-of friend. It wasn't like he had a choice anyway. He was hurt and he agreed with KID that trying to fly back home probably wasn't the smartest idea.

And maybe eventually, he could figure out a way to let the thief know who he was.

* * *

TBC...

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	2. Deal

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed or D.N Angel.

**Pairing(s)**: Kaito x Shinichi

**WARNINGS: Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned **

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**House of Cards**

**By V. Shalyr**

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**2. Deal**

"What... is _that_?" Hakuba stared at the small bundle on his classmate's desk with wary curiosity.

"This is Shin-chan," Kaito introduced, petting the top of the dove's head affectionately. He'd carefully wrapped a small blanket around the bird to keep him warm from the chilly, winter weather. "He's new and he seems a bit nervous around my other birds, so I decided to keep him with me so he can get used to me."

Doves didn't like to be alone. It tended to make them depressed.

He'd been thinking about having his doves look after the new addition to their flock. They were, after all, very smart and fairly reliable birds, but even as he'd been weighing the pros and cons, his new bird had latched onto his sleeve with its beak and given him what he would swear was a desperate, "don't leave me here with them" kind of look. Strange, that.

Of course, he was also keeping the dove close because he was injured and Kaito wanted to keep an eye on him, but Hakuba didn't need to know that. If the nuisance of a detective knew the bird was hurt, he'd want to know why and Kaito didn't feel like concocting some story to tell him today. And he'd be damned if he'd tell Hakuba the truth. It was just one of the few times Lady Luck had not looked favorably upon him that the blonde detective was in some of his classes even in college. Or maybe that was a lucky thing since it allowed him to monitor the other's actions without having to actively seek him out?

"He's so cute," Aoko crooned, crouching down beside his desk so she could examine the bird at eye level. "That's odd. I didn't know doves could have blue eyes."

"They don't normally," Kaito agreed, "but this one's special."

For one thing, the magician would swear that it understood every word he said—even more so than his other doves, and that was saying something.

Shinichi peered up at the many faces now turned towards him from amidst the nest of cloth the magician had made for him. He had to admit that it was very warm and comfortable, even if it felt a little weird to be constantly manhandled this way. It eased the aching and that was more than a blessing in itself.

So Hakuba Saguru knew KID's civilian counterpart? Well, Shinichi did seem to recall the blonde mentioning something about having a prime suspect. Shinichi had been curious to hear this, of course, but never paid it much mind. He wasn't interested in catching the thief outside of a heist. It seemed to defeat the purpose somehow, to go against the rules of the chase.

"Just what we need," the blonde muttered, "you to get more birds for your tricks."

Kaito just shook his head at that, his face a mask of mock pity. "Comments like that just go to show how underdeveloped your sense of fun is. How do you ever expect to get a girlfriend like that?"

Hakuba glared stiffly. "Like you're one to talk."

The magician gestured around their rapidly filling classroom, raising his eyebrows. "Whatever do you mean? In case you haven't noticed, the ladies love me. I just haven't found the right person yet."

"Or you have commitment issues."

"I'll have you know that I'm a gentleman."

"I'm not talking about those kinds of commitment issues."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Oh, so this is about your ridiculous theories about me being KID again, are they?"

The response was so natural that even Shinichi would have believed the thief thought the claim absolutely ludicrous if he hadn't known better. He turned his head to see Hakuba's reaction. The other detective just glowered for a moment longer before moving to his own desk as the professor entered the classroom.

"I don't see why you two have to keep arguing all the time," Aoko sighed, moving to her own chair. "I would have thought three years would be more than enough time to get tired of arguing."

"It's because he's such an annoying nuisance," Kaito murmured softly to Shinichi, stroking his fingers down the dove's head and back. "Now, you just be quiet and the professor won't ask me to get rid of you. I'm afraid he doesn't have the best impression of my birds."

Despite his words, the magician grinned and Shinichi wondered just what he'd done to turn the teacher against his feathery assistants.

Keeping quiet during the lectures turned out to be quite easy. Kaito's college courses were a whole lot more interesting than the elementary school classes Shinichi had been stuck in as Conan for the past two years. If anything, it was the magician who had trouble containing his boredom. Halfway through the first class, he'd taken out a pack of cards and started shuffling them absentmindedly as he listened, pausing only occasionally to jot down notes. The professor gave him rather pointed looks several times, all of which he pretended not to notice, and the man finally gave up. A bored Kaito was a dangerous Kaito anyway, so as long as he was keeping himself occupied and not disrupting class, the man would count himself fortunate. And it wasn't like he could complain really, since the magician tended to pass all his exams with flying colors.

The bell signaling the end of the hour and the last class of the day had barely begun to ring when Kaito was on his feet, slinging his book bag over his shoulder and scooping Shinichi up off his desk. Shinichi tensed when he saw the thief cast the windows a calculating look as though seriously thinking about jumping through it to speed up his departure from campus. But then he glanced down at Shinichi and, thankfully, appeared to think better of it.

Shinichi could hear people cooing over him as Kaito carried him past them through the halls of the building. He wondered what it was about small animals that tended to coax that kind of reaction out of people. Luckily, birds couldn't blush, though he did find himself shrinking further into his blanket nest, trying and failing not to be noticed. Mostly, he failed because the person carrying him specialized in standing out—unless, of course, he didn't want to be noticed, but that definitely didn't apply here or now. He greeted almost everyone they passed by name. They all seemed to know who he was and he would pause now and then to talk to people.

"Kaito!" The shout halted the magician at the school gate and Aoko ran up to them, her messy hair looking even more wild from her mad dash. "Why did you leave so soon? I wanted to ask you something."

"Sorry, Aoko, but I've got plans. And it was just so stuffy in there."

"Oh." Her face fell. "I suppose that means you can't go Christmas shopping with me?"

The magician slapped his free hand to his forehead in a dramatic show of dismay. "Christmas shopping! I still have to go Christmas shopping. Thank you for reminding me, but I really can't do it today."

Aoko crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't believe you actually forgot. You're planning to go Christmas shopping by yourself again, aren't you?"

Kaito looked shocked. "Who, me?

Aoko glowered at him for a moment longer then gave up and shook her head. Kaito had made it a tradition ever since he'd been old enough to go out by himself to always do his Christmas shopping alone. She understood that he liked to keep his gifts a secret, but with his skills, she would have thought keeping his purchases a secret would have been child's play. But then, the magician tended to be strange like that.

Instead, she asked, "Is your mother going to be back for Christmas?"

Kaito nodded. "She says she'll be returning with the friends she went to visit. Guess they feel like it's about time to come back home to Japan."

"Well, let me know when she gets back so I can drop by and say hi. It feels like I haven't seen her in ages."

"Will do."

Giving her a cheery wave, Kaito turned and jogged swiftly away from the university campus. He didn't ease his pace again until they'd gone a good four blocks or so. Slowing back down to a casual stroll, he continued down the street—but not towards his house.

Shinichi craned his neck to look curiously up at him. There was a faint grin hovering about the magician's lips, but Shinichi had come to recognize the expression as just one of the many, many masks Kaito wore more often than not. And he wondered what the magician was thinking behind that smile.

In the little more than a day that he had now known the thief, Shinichi had learned a few things about him. For one thing, he'd learned that his real name was Kuroba Kaito, and that he was currently a first year student in university. He knew the magician was meticulous and took very good care of his doves, and that he appeared to live with his mother—though she was currently out of the country. Aside from these facts, however, it felt like all he'd really learned was that the magician was one big enigma, and he couldn't even say he'd _learne_d that since he'd pretty much known it already.

At school, the magician was energetic, mischievous, and talkative. He played pranks on people so often and with such ease that they seemed to see it as a natural part of his character. At home, he seemed almost the opposite, eerily silent and contemplative. Out in the street with strangers, he could be polite, distant, charming, cold, carefree, sympathetic—it all seemed to depend not on who he was necessarily so much as how he wanted to be seen. The only thing that never seemed to change was the sharp calculation well hidden behind his indigo eyes that reminded Shinichi of someone caught in a never-ending game of chess, mind always racing ahead, watching, cataloging, and planning.

Shinichi wondered if it was tiring to live like that or if the thief was just calculating and manipulative by nature. One thing was for sure. It was no wonder KID found it so easy to get into places and to acquire the information that he needed with how masterfully he could influence people and pull their strings. It was also probably the only reason he was still free.

The people on the train occasionally gave the young man with the bundled up bird cradled in one arm curious looks, but it wasn't the strangest thing they'd ever seen and no one commented. It wasn't until the voice over the speakers announced the next stop and Kaito prepared to get off the train that Shinichi realized where they were going.

Beika? Why was the thief going to Beika?

He was even more confused when Kaito started walking along a route he was more than familiar with. Were they... going to his house? Now this was getting more than a little weird.

.

Nakamouri Aoko sighed as she made her way towards the mall. It had been years since Kaito had gone Christmas shopping with anyone, so she wasn't really surprised that he had declined. It was just that... Sometimes, she felt like she didn't know him as well as she used to. Of course she knew that people changed when they grew up. She couldn't expect Kaito at nineteen to be exactly what he was like at nine. But still, they were friends, right? Weren't friends supposed to understand each other better than this? Know each other better than this? Half the time, she didn't even know where Kaito _wa_s these days.

Aoko was so deep in thought that she walked smack into someone also approaching the mall's glass front doors. Both of them gasped and stumbled back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Aoko gasped, regaining her breath and straightening up. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's okay," the other girl replied with a slightly breathless laugh as she dusted off her skirt and turned to face her. "I wasn't paying attention either."

The other girl stopped abruptly, her blue eyes going wide with surprise. And once Aoko got a good look at her, she could see why.

"Wow," Aoko breathed, "I almost feel like I'm looking into a mirror."

"It's amazing. I guess it's true that everyone has a twin out there." The other girl laughed and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Mouri Ran. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Accepting her hand, Aoko shook it firmly. "Nakamouri Aoko. And it's a pleasure to meet you too. Are you new around here? I'm pretty sure I'd remember seeing you around."

"I'm actually from Beika. I'm just visiting Ekoda for the day with a friend of mine. Are you here by yourself?"

Aoko nodded. Her disappointment must have showed because Ran smiled and gestured for her to follow her. "How about we go inside and I'll introduce you to her? I'm sure Sonoko won't mind. Shopping's always more fun with more people."

.

They were definitely headed towards the Kudou manor.

Shinichi couldn't help but shift about nervously the closer they drew to his old house. He moved around so much that Kaito finally stopped in a park to see if there was anything wrong with him. He sat down on one of the park benches and placed Shinichi in his lap, carefully removing him from his cloth nest and making sure his wounds hadn't started to bleed again.

"Hey, calm down. What's the matter with you?" Kaito murmured, frowning as the dove tried to flap its wings in agitation only to flinch at the pain it caused.

/ Why are we going to my house? / Shinichi wanted to know, but it wasn't like Kaito could actually understand him. The magician had many talents, but speaking dove wasn't actually one of them.

Now that the dove had stopped trying to struggle, Kaito lifted it to eye level. "There now, everything's okay. You need to learn to be more unobtrusive. It's better not to draw attention to yourself sometimes."

Shinichi frowned, or at least tried to. But all it got him was a reassuring pat on the head.

Before he could do anything else, a shout of "watch out!" reached their ears and Kaito shifted Shinichi swiftly to one hand while ducking and reaching up with his other hand to snag the baseball deftly from the air. Straightening once more, the magician grinned at the three children that came running up to them.

"Looking for this?"

"We're so sorry!" a familiar girl's voice gasped. Shinichi turned his head to see and, sure enough, there stood Ayumi closely followed by Genta and Mitsuhiko. All three of them gave the magician sheepish and apologetic looks.

"No harm done," Kaito assured them, holding the ball out to Ayumi. "But you should be more careful next time. Such a small public park might not be the best place for playing baseball."

"We're sorry," Mitsuhiko repeated, scratching the back of his head, "but we couldn't think of where else to go. And we wanted to be nearby in case our friend changed her mind and wanted to join us."

Were they talking about Haibara? Shinichi wondered. They were very close to the professor's house here. And he felt a pang of guilt at realizing that she was probably worried sick. Not that there was much he could do about it until he could fly again. Until then, he was pretty much stuck either waddling around at the abysmal speed a dove could manage on foot or being carried about by Kaito. Kaito wouldn't know to take him to see the mini scientist, and if Shinichi tried to walk, he'd probably get eaten by a cat or something.

"Maybe you should think about switching to a softer ball then," Kaito suggested. And to support his suggestion, he produced a plush baseball with a flourish.

The three gasped again, this time in surprise and amazement.

"Are you a magician?" Ayumi asked excitedly.

"One of the best," Kaito declared with a wink. And he added a yellow rose to the things he passed to her.

Ayumi giggled and the two boys looked uncertain, probably torn between curiosity and annoyance at being upstaged. Shinichi snorted, though the sound came out only as a soft huff of air.

"Well, I've got to get going now," Kaito said, rising to his feet and shifting Shinichi once again to cradle him in one arm. "Have fun with your game and try not to hit anyone."

"Okay," the three chorused.

Shinichi watched them over Kaito's sleeve as the magician strolled away. He had to admit that he sort of missed playing with them. Usually, he found it rather dull, and sometimes even mortifying. But it was also kind of nice how it was so easy for them to enjoy life.

Actually, from what he could tell, Kaito was really good at that too. Kind of ironic considering he was an internationally wanted criminal. Though perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing for a criminal to be. It was better than being bitter or hateful.

All the same though, he had to wonder as they approached the front gates of the Kudou manor... Should he be concerned that it appeared this wasn't the first time Kaito had been in his home? The magician slipped onto the grounds and into the house with such ease that it was scary. So Hakuba was right and KID probably did stalk his detectives. Unless it was just Shinichi. And if it was just him, should he feel honored or disturbed?

Kaito didn't bother to turn on the lights as he maneuvered his way through the house. It would attract unwanted attention, and he had good night vision anyway. His indigo eyes surveyed each room as they went, cataloging the details. There were definitely signs that someone had been living here recently. Making his way straight to Shinichi's room—which, Shinichi thought, was definitely bordering on disturbing—he easily located the gadgets and clothes that Shinichi had worn as Conan, and had stored away when the new antidote had first turned him back.

"So I was right," Kaito said aloud. "He was back for at least a few days. So where is he now?"

Shinichi looked up at the magician's contemplative face, confused. So the magician was here... looking for him? Was he worried because he hadn't seen Conan or Shinichi for awhile?

The thought was kind of touching, even if it meant that the thief was keeping creepily detailed tabs on him. It was nice to know that he could add one more person to the rather short list of people who would know if something had really happened to him. That was the problem with keeping so many secrets and living the way he'd been living for the past two years. There were just so few people he could really rely upon. He wondered if KID ever felt that way. At least Shinichi had people like Haibara and Hattori looking out for him. Who did the thief have who would know—and _care_—what had happened if he suddenly disappeared? His mother? His assistant? He certainly didn't share anything with his friends on the matter.

/ I suppose I forgive you for sneaking around my house, / Shinichi sighed, settling down in the crook of Kaito's arm. / But next time you visit, I'd really rather you use the front door. /

Of course, first, Shinichi had to get back to being human. And somehow, let the magician know that he knew him—and that Shinichi too would keep his secrets.

.

Sonoko smiled, her eyes gleaming with excited glee as the three girls made their way through the mall. "Oh, this is wonderful! You two are so lucky. I'd love to have a twin."

The mall was a popular destination at this time of year with everyone out hunting for just the right gifts. It wasn't so bad that they had to push their way through the crowd, but they still had to speak fairly loudly in order to be heard over the din.

"I did always wish I had a sister," Aoko said, smiling in return. "It's kind of funny really. It seems like none of my close friends have siblings. Or at least Kaito and Hakuba-kun are both only children."

"Hakuba? As in the detective Hakuba Saguru?"

"You know him?" Aoko asked, surprised.

Ran scratched the back of her head, looking sheepish. "I wouldn't say that I know him. But I have met him before. See, my father's a detective too."

"Is he? Mouri... Your father isn't Mouri Kogoro by any chance, is he?"

"That's him."

Sonoko cut in with an irritated scowl before they could continue. "Enough talk about detectives. Honestly, I don't see how you don't get tired of all that detective stuff with your father and Kudou and those brats Conan-kun hung out with. Let's talk about something fun for a change. Hey, I know!" Sonoko clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "I heard there's going to be a spectacular fireworks show at the Ekoda Clock Tower on Christmas Eve. Do you know if it's true?"

"I'm not sure," Aoko admitted. "You should ask Kaito."

"Kaito?"

"He's a friend of mine. He loves all kinds of shows. If there's going to be a fireworks display, he'll probably know about it."

"Can you ask him then and let us know? And you can come to my father's Christmas party too, if you have time. We can plan a girls' night out!"

"I'll let you know by tomorrow night," Aoko promised, smiling. The sandy-haired girl's enthusiasm was proving somewhat infectious. It had been too long since she really hung out with her female friends.

This could be just what she'd needed, Aoko decided. To get out there and do something fun, make some new friends. It was high time she stopped being bothered by what it was exactly Kaito got up to all the time and got on with her own life. It was the least she could do for herself for the holidays.

.

Shinichi was quiet the entire way back to the magician's home. He didn't complain when Kaito put him with the other doves and disappeared into what Shinichi surmised was his workroom. According to the other doves, it was a dangerous place to be and none of them were allowed.

/ You were out for a long time today, / Aka observed. Out of all the doves, he appeared to be the most talkative.

/ It's not fair, / the dove on Shinichi's other side declared. She, or at least he thought it sounded a bit like a she, seemed upset for some reason.

/ But he's hurt, / Aka reasoned, straightening so he could peer over the top of Shinichi's head at the other bird. / Master was just looking out for him. /

The dove huffed and flapped her wings, accidently or on purpose smacking Shinichi with one wing before taking off to perch on one of the other stands. Shinichi looked after her in confusion, feeling a little hurt.

/ What did she hit me for? I haven't done anything. /

/ Don't mind her, / Aka told him. / Shizu's just jealous that Master took you to school with him instead of her. She likes going to school. /

/ So what did you two do today? / another dove asked, landing in a flurry of white feathers to take Shizu's place. This one seemed smaller than Aka and Shinichi had the feeling he'd been introduced to it before. What was its name again? Zam?

/ Well... / Shinichi trailed off, not entirely sure what to say. / We visited someone's house. /

/ The really big one next to the house with a lot of explosions in it? /

/ Uh... / Was he talking about Agasa's? / I guess so. /

/ Does that mean you found Tantei-kun? /

It just felt weird to hear a dove referring to him by KID's nickname.

/ No, we didn't. /

They couldn't because "Tantei-kun" was right there.

Aka hummed thoughtfully, but before he could say anything, Zam leaned closer to Shinichi and pulled out one of Shinichi's feathers with his beak.

/ Hey! / Shinichi protested, hopping a little in his surprise and indignation. / What are you doing? /

/ It was loose, / Zam informed him, dropping the stray feather. / It's not good to leave loose feathers. You never know when it'll get in the way. /

/ I can preen myself, / Shinichi declared, shuffling away when Zam tried to reach his wings again. Granted, he'd never done it _before_, but how hard could it be?

/ Ah! /

The screech reached them a moment before a ball of feathers dive-bombed into their midst, almost making Shinichi fall off the edge of the table in fright. The feathery missile resolved itself into yet another dove whose feathers were now sticking up every which way. It was also cackling with barely contained glee.

/ I got it! I got it! Did you see? /

/ No, I didn't, / Aka snapped, ruffling his feathers in annoyance. / I wish you'd stop scaring everyone like that! /

/ Wait till I show Master what I can do now, / the newcomer continued as though it hadn't heard him. / I am so going to be in his next show. /

/ That's Whiz, / Aka sighed, turning back to Shinichi as Zam started grooming the new bird. Shinichi was starting to think the bird was a bit obsessive about organized feathers. / He's always practicing these aerial stunts. /

By this point, all Shinichi really wanted to do was to find somewhere quiet and hide in it so he could have some time to think in peace. But as it were, he had to endure another hour or more of the doves' chattering until a soft chime that Shinichi took a moment to recognize as the clock striking the hour.

In unison, all the doves around him chorused, / Bedtime! /

As if on cue, hands picked Shinichi up and all the other doves took wing to head to wherever it was they slept.

"It's their bedtime," Kaito informed him, "but I'm assuming you don't want to stay with them tonight either."

Shinichi nodded fervently. Absolutely not. He doubted he'd actually be able to manage any sleep with those birds as company.

"Well then, in that case, I suppose you can sleep on the nightstand again."

Where he was promptly place, though he spent a good half an hour watching Kaito peruse his textbooks before actually attempting to get some rest. It was a lot like the night before and Shinichi found, slightly to his surprise, that he liked it. It was peaceful, and the sound of turning pages seemed almost soothing.

Once his injuries were healed and he could move about freely again, he decided, he would find a way to tell the magician who he was. It couldn't be that hard, right? Maybe he could get a hold of some ink and try to write out his story or something. Those other doves performed fancy tricks all the time. Telling one simple story should prove to be a piece of cake, especially seeing as he was sure he was smarter than even the smartest bird.

With that in mind, Shinichi settled down in his blanket nest for the night. Really, being a dove wasn't actually so bad.

* * *

**TBC... **

* * *

**AN**: Merry Christmas and happy New Year:)

.


	3. Play

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Pairing(s)**: Kaito x Shinichi

**WARNINGS: Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned **

* * *

**House of Cards**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**3. Play**

Ai frowned, emerging from her laboratory after a sleepless night trying and failing to figure out what exactly had gone wrong. From her experiments, she highly doubted that the last batch of potential antidote she'd given Kudou would have worn off and reverted him back to Conan, but it did cause changes. She just couldn't figure out what kind of changes. And the only clues she or Hattori had been able to find on the detective's abandoned garments were a few white feathers. They could have come from anywhere, especially seeing as he'd been on the scene of a KID heist.

Moving to the kitchen, the little girl climbed up onto one of the stools she'd set up around the place so that she could pour herself a cup of coffee. She was sorely in need of the caffeine right now, though she did take care that she didn't have too much of the stuff when it wasn't absolutely necessary. Still, sometimes, it was all too easy to forget that she was only nine—or was it ten now? She didn't much care to keep track.

As she moved to sit at the kitchen table, a soft tapping reached her ears. Frowning, she looked up, her sharp gaze zeroing in on the window. There was a dove on the windowsill, pecking on the other side of the glass. It noticed her gaze and stopped, fanning its wings.

Was it... asking to come in?

The scientist hesitated then got up and moved to the window. Unlocking it, she slid the windowpanes up and the dove hopped inside, cooing insistently.

The doves eyes were blue.

Ai stared.

Doves didn't have blue eyes, she was almost sure of it. Blue eyes... Kudou had blue eyes though, and there had been white feathers on his clothes—very possibly dove feathers.

Shinichi could see the wheels turning in her head as she processed the evidence and probabilities then returned to examining him with new interest.

"Well, this is unexpected. Kudou-kun, I presume?"

The dove seemed to relax with relief and bobbed his head in acknowledgement.

"I suppose I'd better start trying to find a way to make you human again as soon as possible. I'll ask the professor to call your parents so they can cover for you. Hattori's in town too, by the way. Originally, he was supposed to help me find you. But I suppose that's unnecessary now. You can probably stay here while..."

She trailed off when the dove hesitantly shook his head.

"You're not thinking that you can actually survive out there as a dove, are you? You realize that doves are virtually defenseless creatures."

He fluffed out his feathers indignantly at the suggestion. He wasn't an idiot after all.

Ai rolled her eyes. "Fine, as long as you know what you're doing. Just... be careful, all right? And check back in with me in a couple days."

The dove bobbed its head again to show that he understood then turned and took to the air, circling over the professor's house once before making his way back towards the apartment that was rather quickly starting to feel like home.

.

Kaito glanced up at the open window of his room at the sound of wings. When the blue-eyed dove landed on the sill, he grinned. "Oh good, you came back. I was starting to worry you weren't going to since your injuries have pretty much healed up."

/ I kind of like it here, / Shinichi admitted aloud, though his words came out in a series of happy, unintelligible coos.

Kaito held out his hand and the dove half hopped, half flapped over to land on it obligingly.

"You seem to be in a good mood today," the magician mused, holding him up at eye level. "I wonder what the reason is? Or maybe it's just being able to fly again?"

The magician sounded slightly wistful at that last question, and Shinichi wondered if he was missing the use of his glider. It had always seemed like KID's favorite means of transportation.

Kaito lifted the hand he was perched on to his shoulder and Shinichi took it as a cue to hop onto it so the magician could pick up his pen again. He sat there for awhile just watching the magician finish up his homework, but he had things to do today. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to tell the magician who he was, but he had several ideas, and now that he could move about freely, it was high time to see if any of them worked out.

Taking flight again, he darted through the open door of Kaito's room and out into the living room. He was pretty sure he had seen an ink pot there the day before—ah yes, there it was. He wasn't sure what Kaito used the ink for, but then being who he was, the magician had all sorts of strange things lying about his house. Waddling over to it, Shinichi examined the seal. Luckily for him, it hadn't been closed too tightly, so it only took some effort on his part to remove the already loose cap.

Right, now to get some paper. Well, a sheet or two from the printer in the corner would probably do.

An hour later, however, Shinichi was no longer feeling so optimistic.

Operation "Try to Write" wasn't going as planned. Shinichi sat back, frustrated and exhausted to stare dispiritedly at the mess of black ink upon the page. Wings and talons just weren't amenable to the creation of legible letters. They made his movements clumsy and it showed in the many splotches and streaks of blackish gray that marred his white body. Not that he was one to give up that easily, but an accidental flick of his wing sent the entire ink pot tipping onto its side and rolling across the tabletop. Shinichi managed to stop it from falling off the edge, but only just, and there was no stopping the flood of ink that cascaded out across the wooden surface.

The noise soon brought Kaito into the living room. His gaze fell on the dove right away and he frowned, heading into the kitchen for a rag to soak up the majority of the spill. The rag came accompanied with a giant bowl of warm water and more clean cloths for the bird.

Shinichi just sat despondently as Kaito rinsed the ink off his feathers, scolding him all the while about messing with the ink pot and what kind of damage he might have accidentally done to his feather coat.

Being a bird was much more frustrating than being Conan had ever been. At least as Conan, he could talk to people.

"What's the matter with you?" Kaito grumbled, frowning. "You were all cheerful just this morning. And now you can't even be bothered to move."

When Shinichi still failed to react, he signed and snapped his fingers. "Aka."

The bird fluttered to him at once, and Kaito set him down next to Shinichi. "You talk to him. See if you can cheer him up."

There was a moment of silence as Kaito moved to the kitchen to dispose of the cleaning materials, then Aka said obligingly, / So, what seems to be the problem today? /

Shinichi shuffled about a little, feeling weirdly like he was in a doctor's office all of a sudden. Maybe Kaito had gone undercover as a medical professional at some point and taken this particular dove with him. / Nothing. /

/ Don't be like that, / Aka chided. / I want to help! And you're making Master worried. /

/ But there isn't really anything you can do, / Shinichi countered. / If I knew what to do, I wouldn't be sitting here. /

/ So is it information that you need then? / Aka asked, unperturbed by his snappishness. / I think most humans look at books when they need information. Though I don't know how to read. Do you? /

Shinichi blinked. Books, that could work. He recalled being somewhat surprised to find a collection of Sherlock Holmes books on the magician's bookshelf along with a variety of other fiction and nonfiction titles. That could work.

/ Thanks, / he said quite earnestly before taking off again for Kaito's room.

Aka stared after him, baffled but glad that he could help.

Shinichi didn't have to wait long for Kaito to return to his room with a mug of hot chocolate. The homework that had been on his desk had been exchanged for a bunch of diagrams and research books, but none of that interested him at the moment. Instead, Shinichi sat himself on top of his favorite series of books and stared at the magician intently. Being who he was, Kaito was extremely aware of being watched, and it didn't take him long to glance back at the dove in question.

Noticing just what books he was perched on, Kaito chuckled. "Looks like you and Tantei-kun have more than a few things in common."

Before the magician could look away again, Shinichi flapped his wings and moved to sit on top of a different series of magic books. Unfortunately, this didn't have the desired result and Kaito returned to his work without further comment. Not, Shinichi supposed, that he could blame him. How could he expect the thief to come to the conclusion that his new bird was really one of his detectives under a spell with so little in the way of clues? It was a leap in logic that people—even certifiably insane people—simply wouldn't come to. If only there was some more obvious method for him to act out his point.

Writing out the words had seemed like such an excellent and straightforward way. Hold on a moment, words... There were lots of things with words on them. If he could find the right words, there was no reason why he couldn't simply point them out instead of trying to write them out himself.

Casting his gaze around the room, Shinichi found what he was looking for stacked up on another corner of the bookshelf. Flying over to it, he selected the topmost newspaper and gripped the edge with his beak. It took him several tries, but he finally managed to drag the paper free and over to the desk, depositing it next to what appeared to be a diagram of a theatre stage.

"You know," Kaito said dryly, "you really are acting strange today."

Shinichi ignored the comment, hopping about on the page as he searched for the words he wanted. Luckily, the thief kept himself well updated on the goings-on of detectives. Unluckily, Kudou Shinichi had been absent on the news front for quite some time. Still, he'd work with what he had.

Stopping before a quote from some detective, Shinichi pecked at the word "I" then looked at the magician expectantly.

Kaito stared at the word then at the dove. It was obvious the bird wanted to tell him something, and it was beginning to dawn on him that his earlier suspicions may have been correct. "You can read."

It was more of a statement than a question, but Shinichi nodded anyway just to make it absolutely clear.

Kaito stared at him a moment longer then looked back at the article. "So, is it the sentence you're interested in?"

There didn't seem to be anything special about it to him. It wasn't even an article about a particularly skilled or well-known detective.

In reply, the dove shook his head and pecked at the same spot on the page once more.

"I?" Kaito guessed.

Yes! Shinichi nodded vigorously and began shuffling about again in search of the word "am".

Kaito watched him in growing wonder as "am" was followed by "a" and finally "detective". Thank Lady Luck that her favorite thief liked to read articles about crime.

"I've never heard of doves being detectives," Kaito informed him, gaze never leaving the bird in question. "I didn't think birds committed crimes either."

Shinichi snorted and cast around for something else to add more detail. It was pretty unlikely that he'd be able to find the word "spell" in articles about crime and the justice system, but maybe... Well, his name wasn't _tha_t unusual. It was worth a shot. With this in mind, he hopped about the page until he located the word "my", but the moment was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone.

Flipping it open, he leaned back in his chair and lifted it to his ear. "Hello?"

Shinichi caught an incoherent murmur from the other end of the line, then the magician frowned.

"Can't it wait?"

Another incoherent murmur, sounding a touch more frantic this time, and Kaito sighed. "Of course. I'll be right there."

Shutting the phone, he gave Shinichi a rueful look. "Sorry, Shin-chan, but it looks like we're going to have to finish this conversation after I get back."

Shinichi fluffed his feathers in frustration, but he supposed he could wait a few more hours. He wasn't having much luck locating any words or fragments that could be used to spell out his name anyway.

"Do you want to come with me?"

/ I suppose I might as well, / Shinichi sighed aloud even though the magician couldn't understand him, and waited patiently as Kaito scooped him up and placed him on his shoulder. At least he was finally getting somewhere.

.

They arrived at the university drama department theatre half an hour later to a scene of utter chaos. Props lay scattered everywhere and people were milling around, some of them cleaning up and others talking in rapid, urgent voices.

"So what's the emergency?" Kaito asked, singling out the stage manager who had called him in the first place.

The young man wrung his hands, a look of distress making his face look pinched and pale. "Something's happened to Fujioka, but we don't have anyone who can fill in for him. The opening performance is tomorrow night! There's simply no time to train someone else, and it's not like magicians grow on trees. We were hoping, seeing as you helped him with designing his part to begin with, that you'd be able to do his part. I mean, Hakuba-san told us that you were a good actor and that memorizing his part by tomorrow night shouldn't be a problem for you. Please, please consider it."

Kaito raised his eyebrows, sorting through the garbled half-rant, half-plea in his head. "Hold on a moment. What happened to Fujioka?"

"We don't know," the stage manager admitted, his voice strained with frustration and anxiety. "He just collapsed. But he seemed perfectly fine yesterday."

Still perched on the magician's shoulder, Shinichi frowned—or he would have if his new face had been capable of such human expressions. As it were, he turned his attention to the people around them, searching their expressions and trying to catch the various snatches of conversation going on. This sort of incident had become all too familiar to him over the years, especially as Conan.

"How is he?" Kaito asked, allowing some concern into his voice.

"We called an ambulance. The hospital sent word that he should be all right, but he's still unconscious."

Shinichi breathed a mental sigh of relief. At least the person wasn't dead. That was always a plus, and often a rare plus at that.

"He was poisoned."

The new voice belonged to an all too familiar figure making his way through the milling theatre club members towards them. Hakuba Saguru had a stern expression on his face that Shinichi recognized from the few cases he and the blond detective had worked on together.

"It was a fairly fast-acting poison, but luckily, not lethal when dealt with in a timely manner. We found traces of it in his drink, which was among those provided for all the club members."

Which meant, Shinichi translated in his head, that it had very likely been someone involved with the club who had executed the deed. And if they had meant to target this Fujioka person in particular, it was probably someone still on the scene, since they would have had to be able to ensure the poisoned cup made it into the right hands.

Caught up in the workings of the case, Shinichi moved from his place on Kaito's shoulder with a flap of his wings. Circling the crowd, he landed on whatever surface was available to listen in on what everyone was saying.

He didn't notice the eyes suddenly fixed on him.

"What's your bird doing?" Hakuba demanded warily. He didn't exactly have fond memories of the magician's birds. He couldn't understand why everyone else seemed to find the white, winged creatures so adorable. As far as he was concerned, they could be perfect little devils in their own right. He chalked it up to Kuroba's influence.

"That's a good question," Kaito mused aloud, though in his mind, he was thinking back to the newspaper incident just before they'd arrived. The way his new dove was flittering through the crowd, in his mind, he could see a person doing much the same—or rather, a child wearing a pair of fake glasses and an expression of intent concentration. What had that first sentence been?

_I am a detective. _

A detective... His Tantei-kun had gone missing several days ago. And, now that he thought about it, that was around the time the dove had shown up. It had even been at one of his heists, which his Tantei-kun had been attending regularly before his disappearance. Could it possibly be...?

Kaito shook his head. But that was impossible, wasn't it? People couldn't just up and turn into birds. But then again, from a reasonable and logical standpoint, they couldn't just remove ten years from their physical appearance either. And he professed to be searching for a gemstone that could grant a person immortality. While he couldn't say whether he really believed that such a gem existed, he obviously had decided not to rule out the possibility. In comparison, a person being turned into a dove hardly seemed all that implausible.

A sudden round of screams and the flurry of feathers jolted Kaito from his thoughts and he lunged forward to snatch the small, white shape out of the air, cradling it protectively in his arms and glaring.

"Hakuba, what is your bird doing here? It just tried to eat my dove!"

The blonde had hastily called the falcon to his arm as people scrambled to back away from the commotion.

"I'm sorry," he apologized to everyone in the vicinity in general. "I don't know what came over her."

Turning to Kaito, he added, "I was taking her outside when the incident here brought me here. Maybe it would be better if you left."

Kaito scowled, but turned to the stage manager and said, "I can cover for Fujioka, no problem. Just e-mail me his script, and I'll join you for rehearsals tomorrow."

"Thank you," the man replied, his entire frame sagging with relief. "We really, really appreciate this."

"I'm glad I could help." Donning his usual smile, Kaito wished them luck and left the theatre with the trembling bird still nestled against his jacket.

Under normal circumstance, Shinichi would have protested at being taken away from a crime scene like this. But Hakuba was there, and Watson had given him the shock of his life with that sudden attack. He'd never realized before how terrifyingly huge and sharp those claws could look to a dove.

Kaito waited until they were a good distance from the university campus before locating an unoccupied bench and taking a seat. Carefully transferring Shinichi to his hands, he slowly lifted the dove to eye-level and asked with a mixture of hesitation and amazement, "Tantei-kun?"

Shinichi stopped shivering and stared back at him, startled by the sudden question. Equally hesitant, he cooed an affirmative.

The magician stared at him for awhile longer then slowly shook his head, a smile playing across his lips. "Now, I've really seen it all. And you said you didn't believe in magic."

/ It wasn't magic, / Shinichi objected a little sulkily. / It was a scientific accident. /

However unlikely or improbable.

Of course, Kaito couldn't understand his actual words, but he got the idea from the dove's body language and laughed. He shook his head, his smile turning rueful. "What a way for you to learn my secret, huh?"

Shinichi didn't find this particularly amusing. He'd been brooding about it on and off since he'd woken up after the heist. Shifting a bit in the magician's grasp, pecking softly at a finger in a way he'd seen some of the other birds do to show affection. He wouldn't give KID's secret away.

"Well, that's good to know," the thief murmured, getting to his feet. "You know, I had been thinking about introducing you to Kuroba Kaito at some point. I suppose this is just a bit earlier than I'd planned."

Setting Shinichi back on his shoulder, he chuckled to himself. "I guess you really are Shin-chan. Life's full of coincidences, isn't it?"

.

Evening found the magician and the dove in the Kuroba living room. Kaito had rigged a sort of miniature computer-like device with a screen and a keyboard that included a few commonly used words so that Shinichi could type out whatever it was he wanted to say. It was actually quite a neat contraption, and Shinichi spent some time examining it before experimentally tapping out a sentence of greeting. When that turned out well, he quickly set about explaining to the magician exactly how he'd ended up small, white, and feathery.

Kaito sat on the carpet next to the low table, watching him with intense interest. "If you weren't so unbelievably smart for a bird, I'd find this entire story harder to believe."

/ You're telling me. /

"So, does that mean that, when your scientist friend finds a way to reverse this, you'll be a teenager again?"

Shinichi paused. He hadn't really given it much consideration. He'd been his right age for two days before being turned into a dove. Did that mean that the antidote had worked?

/ I don't know. /

"Hmmm." Kaito studied him with a calculating look then shrugged and grinned, reaching out to pet the top of his head. "You make a cute dove."

Shinichi shuffled away from his fingers, slightly disgruntled as he tapped at the keys, / They all look pretty much the same. /

"No they don't. I assure you that I can tell the difference between every one."

Deciding not to argue over the matter seeing as the magician had proven this true on several occasions, Shinichi opted instead to finally ask one of the other questions that had been nagging at him since this whole escapade began.

/ Why were those people shooting at you? /

"Hey, I'm a thief, remember? Thieves make enemies."

/ I didn't think you made many enemies who'd want to kill you. It's kind of extreme seeing as you tend to return what you steal. /

"Aw, so nice to know that you care."

Shinichi gave him a rather flat look. / You're avoiding the question. /

"Maybe," Kaito agreed with no trace of remorse. "It's almost the holidays. There's no point in dredging up shadows right now. First thing's first. Do you have anyone that you need to notify about your current, ah, condition?"

Shinichi ruffled his feathers unhappily at the change in topic, but he knew better than to even try pursuing the issue. / Not really. I already visited Haibara this morning. /

"Great. Then let's go Christmas shopping."

/ What? But it's already so dark outside. /

"Just my kind of hour, wouldn't you say? Anyway, most of the shops around here open late just before the holidays. They want all the business they can get out of the gift-giving season." Pausing in the doorway, the magician turned to give Shinichi a much more serious look. "I'm glad you ended up with me instead of getting picked up by somebody else. I was getting worried."

The blue-eyed dove sat quietly on the living room table for a long few moments after the magician had disappeared back into his room, then he shuffled back over to the key panel. For a minute or so, the clicking of the keys was the only sound in the room. Then he sat back and stared at the words he'd typed onto the screen.

/ I know. Thank you. /

* * *

**TBC... **

* * *

**.**


	4. Draw

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Pairing(s)**: Kaito x Shinichi

**WARNINGS: Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned **

* * *

**House of Cards**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**4. Draw**

Ran took a deep breath to steady herself, staring at the door before her that would let her into her mother's office. She would need a full hand and a lot of luck to get both her parents where she wanted them for Christmas. The promise of free food would probably snag her father, but her mother would probably suspect what she was up to if she wasn't careful. After all, she'd know that her daughter liked to spend the holidays with her family, and that included her father as well as her mother.

Well, it was now or never. At this late hour, even someone as hardworking as her mother should be finishing up her work for the day. This was her chance, and she was going to make it count.

.

Kaito's idea of Christmas shopping appeared to involve a lot more window browsing than actual purchases. When he did make purchases, he made a small show out of making them disappear. Shinichi spent some time climbing about his shoulders, trying to figure out where he had stowed everything. He didn't succeed in finding out, but he did succeed in making the magician laugh.

Emerging back into the bustle of the mall, Kaito shifted Shinichi onto his wrist so he could look at him more easily. "Do you still need to do Christmas shopping?"

Shinichi lifted and dropped his wings in his equivalent of a bird shrug. At this rate, he wasn't sure he'd be in any shape to be giving anyone Christmas presents.

"In that case, let's get something to eat. I'm hungry. And we can pick up some tasty bread for you and my other birds on the way."

The bird on his shoulder cooed an agreement. It felt like forever since Shinichi had eaten "real" food, but then again, to the dove part of his mind, bread sounded pretty good. It beat birdseeds anyway. At least bread was human food.

They ended up in a bookstore coffee shop not far from the food court. According to Kaito, it sold some of the best cakes and pastries in Ekoda, and Shinichi had to admit that the many baked goods on display looked quite impressive—even if he wasn't all that fond of sweets.

"I'll bring you back sometime once you're human again," Kaito promised, joining the line before the counter. "I hear they make a mean lemon pie, though I'm more of a chocolate cake person myself."

/ Somehow, I'm not surprised, / Shinichi said, thinking of all the mugs of hot chocolate he had seen the magician consume in the past couple days. The line looked rather long. They were probably going to be there for a good couple minutes. Turning his head, Shinichi surveyed the bookshelves beyond the perimeter of the small area sectioned off for the coffee shop. It felt like forever since he'd been able to look around freely in a bookstore too. He'd been so preoccupied in the last couple weeks, first with cases and then with the new batch of antidotes. It took moments like these to really drive it home in his mind just how much he missed in life sometimes. Life before Conan now looked like a headlong rush towards the career he'd always dreamed he would pursue. Now... Now, he wondered sometimes if he should have slowed down a little, stopped and "smelled the roses" so to speak. It wasn't like his career was going to run away from him. If there was one thing in the world he could be absolutely sure of, it was that he was a great detective. Somewhere along the way of becoming Conan, it had stopped being important whether or not he was recognized for that. There were simply so many more important things.

"You can go look around if you want," Kaito said, noting his curiosity.

/ But wouldn't someone notice? / Shinichi asked, hoping the cooing sounded enough like a question for the meaning to be obvious.

"Nah, I'm pretty well known around here, you know. No one's going to mind a strange dove or two hanging around."

Well, that was good enough for him. Taking flight, Shinichi circled the coffee shop area once before heading off through the shelves and various stands where books had been stacked or propped up for display. Many of these had a holiday theme, no surprise there, and there were dozens of different, small gifts scattered throughout the store as well.

Spotting a familiar name on one stand, Shinichi landed for a closer look. That book, Shinichi hadn't known it had come out yet. Fluttering a bit closer, he examined the display more carefully. Yes! He'd been waiting for this one for weeks. If he squeezed around behind the stand holding it upright, maybe he could read the summary on the back.

A few minutes later, Kaito found him tucked in behind the display, his head weaving a little from side to side as he read.

"Now that's somewhat un-dovelike behavior," he observed, moving the book and stand to give the bird more room. "It's time to go."

Somehow, the dove contrived to look disappointed at this news, but hopped onto the hand Kaito offered and let himself be transferred to his shoulder. He perked up though when the magician picked up the book next and started for the checkout counter.

"Call it an early Christmas gift if you like," Kaito said in reply to his inquiring coo. "Besides, you're not the only person here who likes to read. Though I have to admit that I mostly read the newspapers these days."

They had just made it out of the bookstore when a familiar voice rang out over the monotonous din that seemed to be the norm in malls.

"Kudou? Hey, Kudou!"

Shinichi turned his head just as Kaito did, and they both blinked at the dark figure pushing its way through the crowd towards them. It took Shinichi a moment to recognize the newcomer. He certainly hadn't expected to see him here. / Hattori? /

"You've had us all worried, you know? Then that scientist friend of yours calls me up and just calls off the search without explanation. What gives?"

Shinichi had spent enough time around Kaito to recognize his Poker Face sliding smoothly into place.

The magician gave Hattori a baffled look, raising one eyebrow. "I think you have the wrong person. My name's not Kudou, and I don't believe we've ever met before."

"What?" Taken aback, the Osaka detective paused and took a closer look at the young man he had addressed. "Oh, er, sorry. I guess I do have the wrong guy. It's amazing though. You look almost just like my friend."

"This Kudou guy?"

"Yeah, Kudou Shinichi, the teen detective. I don't suppose you've seen him? He looks a lot like you."

"No, I'm pretty sure I'd remember."

Shinichi snorted, the soft sound drawing Hattori's attention to him.

"Is that a dove on your shoulder?"

The next thing Shinichi knew, Kaito had plucked him from his shoulder and held him out in front of Hattori. "Sure is. Say hello to Shin-chan."

"Uh... Hi?"

Hattori stared, and Shinichi could tell he was struggling to make sense of this bizarre stranger. Well, good luck with that.

Returning Shinichi to his former perch, Kaito grinned. "So you came here to look for your friend? I wasn't aware Kudou Shinichi ever came to Ekoda."

"Well, no, not exactly. I was actually here with another friend." Hattori held out his hand. "I'm Hattori Heiji, and I'm actually from Osaka. My friend and I are just visiting the area for the holidays."

"Ah, yet another teenage detective, I see." Kaito shook his head before sweeping into a theatrical bow. "Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire. Welcome to Ekoda."

"Thanks. A magician, huh? And you keep up with detective news?"

"You could say that." Kaito straightened. "Actually, I've always wanted to meet Kudou Shinichi. When you find him, I don't suppose you could introduce us?"

"Sure, I guess. Though I have to warn you, he's not exactly the social type."

The magician waved a hand dismissively, his grin turning into something more like a smirk when Shinichi snorted again. "No problem. I can get along pretty well with almost anyone. Hey, if you and your friend are new around here, I'd be happy to show the both of you around. Even at this hour, there are some great places to eat at around here."

"I suppose that sounds pretty good. Let me just find Kazuha."

Hattori felt considerably brighter at the prospect of food. Food was always welcome as far as he was concerned, and it was a good distraction from the funny looks the dove had been giving him ever since that "social" comment. Were doves supposed to have such... intense stares? Come to think of it, he'd never seen a dove with blue eyes before. He wouldn't have thought it was possible, but there it was. And the way it was watching him was sort of creeping him out. It looked way more intelligent than a bird had any right to be.

Shinichi sighed, half unfolding and refolding his wings as Kaito skillfully roped the two newcomers into a conversation that would no doubt lead to future introductions between him and Shinichi once said detective was human again. He supposed it was convenient but also a little scary how easy it was for the magician to make his way into someone's confidence. He hadn't been exaggerating when he'd told Hattori that he could get along with pretty much anyone. The important thing was if he _wanted_ to.

So Haibara hadn't told Hattori exactly what had happened to him. Shinichi wondered why. Maybe she thought he wouldn't believe her, which was fairly likely all considered he wouldn't have believed it either if it weren't for the evidence of his own experience.

Ugh, he wasn't looking forward to having to explain what had happened to the other detective. Hattori would probably laugh himself silly. Maybe Shinichi could make something up? He wasn't a very good liar, but Hattori was even worse. And if he asked Kaito, he was sure the magician could come up with something convincing.

.

Shinichi mumbled drowsily as he was moved from Kaito's nightstand to what he assumed was the kitchen table. He cracked open one eye, taking note of the pale, early morning light, and grumbled some more. It was way too early to be awake. Shutting the eye once more, he prepared to go back to sleep when something suddenly slammed into him, knocking him off the edge of the table. He let out a squawk of surprise just as Kaito exclaimed, "Hey! Stop that!"

Disoriented, Shinichi struggled upright, flapping his wings and scrabbling at the floor with his claws to get out of the way as the feathery something dive-bombed him again—only to be snatched out of the air by Kaito.

"That's not a very nice thing to do," Kaito scolded the other dove, frowning. Letting it go with a stern glare, he carefully helped Shinichi back onto the table.

/ What was that for? / Shinichi demanded, glaring resentfully over the magician's fingers at the other bird.

Said other bird glared back for a moment before turning its back to him.

"She really doesn't like you very much, does she?" Kaito asked rhetorically. "Are you okay?"

/ She just surprised me, / Shinichi mumbled, checking himself over. Hopping over to the typewriter Kaito had moved onto the table for him, he tapped out, / I don't get it. I've never done anything to make her dislike me. /

Returning to the table with some toast and a cup of coffee, Kaito sat down and looked between the two birds thoughtfully. "Really now?"

/ Well, I think one of the other birds did say something about her being jealous because she likes going to school with you or something. /

"Hmmm. Shizu did always get along rather well with my classmates. She's also one of the really smart ones, and that's saying something for one of my birds."

/ I'll say. /

"I hope you don't mind staying at home today then. I think I'd better take her with me to class instead so she stops attacking you."

/ I suppose... / It sounded a bit boring already, but it was better than getting randomly knocked about.

"Hey, cheer up, I'll see if I can set you up with something to read."

By the time Kaito retrieved his school bag, he'd pulled up a news sight on his computer and set it up so that all Shinichi had to do was press a key to move from page to page. Shizu gave Shinichi a smug look from the magician's shoulder as he headed out the door and Shinichi glared back for a moment before turning to his reading. It wasn't like she'd won a battle or something. Sure, he was still a little miffed at being left at home, but it wasn't like he was jealous or anything. Of course not. Jealous of a bird! Honestly, who did she think she was, anyway? He was a human, and a smart human beat a smart bird any day. There was no way she could compare with him as a companion. He was just choosing not to fight her over such a trivial issue.

Shinichi was so busy thinking about this that several pages of articles went by without any of it really registering in his mind until someone landed beside him on the desk.

/ Shin-chan, / it said, nudging him in the side to get his attention.

/ What? / he snapped, still feeling weirdly disgruntled.

But Aka didn't let this bother him. Instead, he continued cheerfully, / You can read, right? A few of us were wondering if you could teach us. We've always wanted to learn. /

/ You... want to learn to read? / Shinichi repeated, surprised.

/ And write a little, / Zam chimed in, landing on his other side. / Please? Please? /

Shinichi blinked. Aside from Zam and Aka, half a dozen other doves were crowded on the table behind them, all watching him hopefully. Well, it would certainly give him something to do to pass the time.

/ Sure, I... guess... /

/ Yay! /

The doves cooed excitedly, taking flight towards the living room. Shinichi watched them go in bemusement then shook his head and took off after them. This promised to be a rather... unusual experience.

.

Kaito returned home to find his Shin-chan standing next to the miniature, electronic typewriter and a row of his other doves lined up patiently before him. As he watched, Shinichi cooed something and tapped a few letters. Then he cleared the screen and the first dove in the row moved forward, experimentally pecking at the keys. Kaito's eyebrows shot upward as he read the sentence that took shape as it did so.

"Wow, Shin-chan. You do realize that you're making my spy doves even more formidable than they were, right?"

Shinichi lifted his wings in a shrug. He hadn't really been thinking about it. And really, it wasn't like these doves weren't already formidable assistants. Adding the understanding of written words to their skill set hardly seemed like too big of a difference.

"Sorry, guys, but I'm going to borrow Shin-chan for the rest of the afternoon," Kaito told their feathery audience, coaxing Shizu off his shoulder and retrieving Shinichi. "I'm sure you lot can keep yourselves entertained by practicing."

/ Where are we going? / Shinichi asked, craning his neck to see what it was Kaito had gotten from the closet before it disappeared.

"You'll see."

Because everything had to be a mystery with KID. But that was okay, Shinichi decided, settling onto his now familiar perch to wait patiently for what the magician had planned. Things were more interesting this way anyway, and the magician was one of the best when it came to mysteries.

.

"What's the matter with you _now_?" Kazuha demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Hattori with exasperation. "You've been off ever since we had dinner with that magician yesterday."

Hattori scratched the back of his head, frowning. The two of them had made it back to their hotel room the night before without incident, for which Kazuha was immensely grateful. It didn't happen all that often when they went out together. But ever since then, Hattori had had this preoccupied air about him that was starting to annoy her. She wished he'd just tell her what was on his mind already and be done with it.

"Well?" she repeated.

"It's just... that dove he had with him. It's been bothering me."

"The dove," she repeated, mystified. "Why would the dove bother you? I thought it was really cute."

Hattori grimaced. Cute. Right. "I know it sounds strange, but I swear it was looking at me funny all evening."

Kazuha sighed. "You know, Heiji, I knew you were paranoid, but honestly. It was just a bird."

"Yeah..." Hattori trailed off then gave his head a hard shake. It wasn't just the dove. There had been something odd about the magician too, but then he'd never been a huge fan of magicians to begin with. He wasn't going to bring that up though. Kazuha didn't tend to take kindly to his suspicions of people she found charming, as annoying as that was. "Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry." He laughed. "So what were you saying before?"

Kazuha rolled her eyes and sighed again, but she'd expected as much. After having known him for so long, she'd grown used to having to repeat herself now and then. "I asked if you'd like to go try one of the restaurants Kuroba-kun recommended yesterday."

Right, he'd almost forgotten about the suggestions. That was the other strange thing. It felt like they'd talked a lot, but after all that, it seemed like they still knew practically nothing about him. So what exactly had they talked about all evening? "Sure, sounds good. Did you have a particular one in mind?"

She smiled, the expression bringing a real smile to Hattori's face as well. "Not really. I thought we could pick one together."

.

Kaito had always liked holidays. They were a time for merriment and cheer—and, if you were a Kuroba magician, tricks. He remembered the winter holidays when his father had still been around. The Kuroba house had been in constant chaos, but in a good way, the kind of chaos that involved a lot of smiles, a lot of laughter, and maybe some embarrassment on other people's parts. After his father had passed away, Kaito had done his best to keep up all their holiday traditions. He'd done a good job too, but he couldn't deny that it was never quite the same.

This year, however, things were going to be different. He could sense it. For one thing, he had his favorite detective all to himself for awhile, and he hadn't even had to throw together any schemes to make it happen. His mother wasn't home at the moment, but she would be back in time for Christmas along with the friends that she had mentioned. It promised to be a lively holiday indeed. And if it wasn't, well, Kaito was confident he could fix _that_. Whatever else, it would be a Christmas to remember.

Shinichi had expected the magician to continue down the street, perhaps to head over to the train station, but instead, he walked over to the car in the driveway and unlocked the door. As they drove, Kaito told him stories from his school days—mostly about the tricks he'd played on Hakuba, but there were other stories too. He had plenty of pranks to go around. Shinichi spent some time speculating about what it would have been like to be in the magician's high school class, shuddered, and silently thanked whatever god was listening that he'd been spared that particular experience. No wonder Hakuba was so paranoid around the magician.

Eventually, Kaito pulled in to a rest stop partway up into the mountains where they ate at a small cafe—or rather Kaito ate and then shredded a seedcake, which he fed to Shinichi in bits. Once that was done, it was back into the car and further up the trail. Watching the scenery go by, Shinichi was starting to think he had a pretty good idea of what it was they were going to be doing. His suspicions were confirmed when Kaito asked, "So you're comfortable with your new wings by now, right?"

/ Yes? /

"Great. It's been awhile since anyone went flying with me—not including rescuing you that time on the blimp, anyway. And, well, that wasn't exactly a relaxing experience, was it?"

Shinichi had been rather preoccupied at the time with worrying about the hijackers, and Kaito had been preoccupied with saving his life after the shrunken detective had been tossed out the window. Much as the magician loved the freedom and exhilaration of flight, things were always different when lives were at stake.

Kaito hadn't brought his KID glider, of course. Instead, he'd brought a slightly more standard, black glider that he assembled deftly while Shinichi watched. When he was done, the magician straightened and grinned at the bird, a fierce gleam in his indigo eyes that reminded the detective very much of the Moonlight Magician. "Come on, Tantei-kun. The skies await!"

* * *

**TBC... **

* * *

.


	5. Fold

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Pairing(s)**: Kaito x Shinichi

**WARNINGS: Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned **

* * *

**House of Cards**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**5. Fold**

"It's done."

The bird on her windowsill looked up at her as she set the small vial down in front of him. Ai frowned a little. She looked tired but more or less pleased with herself. "You might need some help swallowing it all considered, but I made it a liquid to make it easier. I'm sure whoever's been taking care of you can feed it to you with an eyedropper or something."

Shinichi stared at the tiny vial of clear liquid before him. Could this really be it? Would this turn him back into Shinichi? Or would he still be stuck as Conan? Looking back up at the scientist, he was startled to find that she was smiling—a real smile if a small one, a little relieved and a little happy.

"That's it," she said in answer to his unspoken question. "Technically, the other antidote worked fine—except for the turning you into a bird part obviously. After this, you should be yourself again."

Be himself. Huh, that was kind of an odd way of putting it. Sure, he'd thought about the situation in those words himself hundreds of times when he'd first been shrunk. But honestly, he'd still been _himself_. Just changing a body couldn't change that.

/ What about you? / he asked, finally looking away from the vial of antidote and back to the scientist who had created it. He didn't have anything to spell out his question for her, but she seemed to understand anyway. The question had come up before back when she'd started making cures that actually seemed like they would last.

Rummaging through the boxes of miscellaneous supplies that always cluttered up Agasa's house, Ai located a roll of string and a tiny bag then brought it over to the window. "As for me, I've... decided that I won't be taking the antidote. The stuff I made for you will be the last batch."

It was still early. The street outside was peaceful, the quiet punctuated only occasionally by birdsong and the distant rumble of cars. Agasa was still asleep, and the only sound in the house was the hissing and bubbling of the coffeemaker.

"I don't really have anything I have to go back to," Ai continued quietly, tying the string tightly around the bag after stowing the vial inside it and then securing it to Shinichi's leg to form a neat little packet. "It's not like anyone's waiting for me. All the people I know now... Well, this is my life. I see no reason to change it."

She stood back and folded her arms across her chest, watching Shinichi test the tie to make sure it would hold. "The kids have decided to throw their own little Christmas party. They miss having Conan around, you know. You made some good friends. Maybe you should consider sending them a card once you can write again."

The dove considered her words for a moment then nodded. / I will. /

"I'll just pass along your well wishes then," Ai continued. "All right, you can go now. Just make sure you come back and see me in a day or two. You know how to reach me. Make an appointment."

Flapping his wings experimentally, Shinichi bobbed his head in acknowledgement then hopped over to the outer edge of the window sill. About to take flight, he paused and turned his head back around so he could look at her. / Thanks. /

Ai only shrugged. She never had been big on gratitude. "You're welcome. Now get going. I need to make breakfast."

.

Kaito had brought Shinichi back to the Beika area even earlier that morning. He hadn't hung around the manors though, but it didn't take too long for Shinichi to find him by air. He spotted the magician standing in front of a child who was looking up at him with wide-eyed awe. Shinichi could see dried tear tracks on the child's cheeks, and wondered why the girl had been crying. Circling above their heads once, Shinichi hesitated over where to land until Kaito made a gesture with his hands that he interpreted as an instruction to just fly down. As he did so, Kaito reached out and caught him with both hands, moving his fingers to conceal the packet tied to the dove's leg. In the same motion, he crouched down and held the dove out in front of the little girl.

"Say hello, Shin-chan."

Shinichi responded with a coo that made the girl giggle again. Whatever she had been crying about, there were no longer any signs of unhappiness in her shining eyes.

Satisfied, Kaito stood up and smiled at her. "So what do you say we go find your parents now, little princess?"

"Okay," she replied happily. "My mommy has black hair, and she's wearing a yellow dress like mine. Daddy's carrying a lot of bags. We were shopping today."

Kaito chuckled. "A regular family outing, huh? Do you remember the last shop you went to?"

The little girl nodded and set off purposefully down the street.

So that was it, Shinichi mused. The child had been lost, and it had upset her enough to make her cry. Kaito had come across her and taken it upon himself to cheer her up and coax a smile back onto her face. It sounded just like him, and he found it odd to think that he knew the magician well enough to say that.

If Shinichi had been his human self, he would have smiled. He'd always known that the thief had a good heart. It was one of the things that made him so easy to like, and one of the reasons he could almost understand all of KID's crazy fans.

By the time Kaito had set Shinichi onto his shoulder and started scouting around for the child's parents with the little girl scurrying ahead of him, he'd discreetly removed the packet from Shinichi's leg and pocketed it.

Locating the child's parents was easy. They had also been searching frantically for her, and the moment they saw her, the mother burst into relieved tears and hugged her daughter to her while the father thanked Kaito for his help. The magician assured them that it was no problem, and eventually made some excuses so he could slip away.

"I already picked up some clothes for you from your house," Kaito informed him as he made his way back towards the train station. "It seems more expedient than staying the night at your place." Suddenly, Kaito grinned, a slightly evil expression that had several people on the street casting him nervous looks. "You have some pretty interesting clothes in your closet. I assume you weren't the one who picked them out."

Shinichi cringed, trying to remember what clothes he was likely referring to. "Interesting" wasn't really the kind of word he liked to apply to his wardrobe. / Probably my mother. /

Sometimes, having an overdramatic, actress mother really sucked.

The magician laughed, ignoring the weird looks people were giving him. He probably looked a bit insane, laughing at seemingly nothing and talking to what was obviously a bird.

"Your parents must be some interesting people. Which reminds me, Mom said she'll be back the day after next. I'll introduce you. I think she'll like you." He paused, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "Hey, do you think your parents would like me?"

Shinichi shrugged his wings. He really had no idea. As a rule, he didn't spend too much time trying to second guess his parents. It wasn't the kind of thing you did if you wanted to live a peaceful, healthy life.

And anyway, did it really matter? Shinichi frowned in his head, tuning out the hissing rumble of the train and the chatter of its passengers as they stepped aboard. What were they exactly? KID and he used to be rivals of sorts, but now, it didn't seem so suitable. Friends? Would Kaito consider him a friend? Shinichi found that he'd like to think so. He didn't have many close acquaintances, and even fewer who knew him so well, and he tried his best to hold on to the few he had.

Damn, he supposed he owed Ran an explanation then, didn't he? Especially after all this time. He just hoped she didn't kill him for telling her so many lies. It would be easier just to keep on lying, quite honestly, but Shinichi had had more than enough of pretending. The truth had always been so important to him, and in the end, he doubted he and Ran could ever have the same kind of friendship they had had before if he didn't tell her the truth.

.

Shutting and locking the front door behind him, Kaito glanced thoughtfully about his living room. "I think it'll be better if we do this in my room. You ready?"

The dove on his shoulder shifted a little nervously at the question but nodded.

Collecting a clean eyedropper from the medicine cabinet, Kaito entered his room and moved to draw the curtains shut all the way—just in case. Who knew what people would think of they chanced to see any of what was likely about to happen. Well actually, most people probably wouldn't believe their eyes, but he didn't need anyone knocking at the door to make sure. Retrieving the vial of antidote from his pocket, the magician carefully opened it then looked at Shinichi.

"You're sure you want to try this now? Okay then, here we go."

If it had been any of his other doves, Kaito would have used his free hand to prop its beak open. But seeing as Shinichi was smart enough and disciplined enough not to need him to do this, he carefully filled the eyedropper and waited for the bird to open his beak before even more carefully dribbling the antidote down said bird's throat.

The burning sensation started almost immediately and Shinichi shuddered. He always hated this part, the moment when the transformation started. It didn't matter if he was changing or changing back. It always felt so much like he was dying, or at the least running an impossibly high fever and having a terrible time trying to breathe. He was dimly aware of Kaito clearing a nice, big space on the floor and spreading a blanket over it, which he placed Shinichi on before throwing another, lighter blanket over him as well. Which was thoughtful of him, Shinichi reflected fuzzily, before the pain washed any coherent thoughts away.

When Shinichi finally came to, it was to the sight of a row of shocked doves lined up on the windowsill, all of them staring at him. He blamed it on his time as one of them that he could now sort of read their "expressions". He could just imagine what they would be saying if he could still understand them. Probably something along the lines of, "What happened?" Or, being the inquisitive creatures that they were, "I didn't know humans could turn into doves."

"They can't," Shinichi said aloud, just in case this had been one of their questions. "I was a... special case."

None of them moved and Shinichi found himself shifting a little uncomfortably under the blanket Kaito had thrown over him before leaving the room. His cheeks turned red when he remembered that he wasn't wearing any clothes, and he adjusted the blanket around himself. Where had Kaito put—oh, there it was.

"Um, could you all please just—go away or something while I get dressed?" As the request left him, he got gingerly to his feet, taking the blanket with him as he moved to open the door halfway.

The doves looked at one another then, to his relief, took off, vanishing out into the corridor and down the stairs in a flurry of white feathers. In the past, it wouldn't have mattered if there were birds watching him change, but it just felt weird after—well, after everything. Besides, he knew firsthand that these weren't ordinary doves. Shutting the door again behind them, he hurried over to the bag Kaito had left for him at the foot of his bed. It almost felt weird to be wearing clothes again. Animals had it lucky with their fur and feathers, he reflected.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Tantei-kun?"

Right, this was Kaito's house. Suddenly feeling inexplicably nervous, Shinichi took a deep breath then opened the door. Indigo eyes met his blue ones for a moment then traveled down to his feet before returning to his face.

"Well," Kaito said pleasantly, "you appear to be one hundred percent human again."

"Yeah, at least I think so."

Silence descended between them again, a little awkward on Shinichi's part. He wondered just what the magician was thinking behind that unreadable mask. What was he supposed to say now? What could he say to someone who had been looking after him for the past several days—while he was a bird?

Before the detective could make up his mind, his stomach decided for him by growling loudly. He flushed under the magician's suddenly amused gaze.

"Sorry," he mumbled, embarrassed. "I don't suppose you have anything to eat?"

The corner of Kaito's mouth quirked upward. "I just made lunch—well, ordered lunch anyway. I'm not much good at cooking."

"Is that why I've never seen you cook?"

"That's a definite possibility, yes. I hope you like Chinese."

It felt weird to see the house through human eyes. Furniture and objects that he had become familiar with now looked foreign again, a difference affected by a change in perspectives. They ended up seated on opposite sides of the kitchen table, and Shinichi tried not to seem too uncomfortable under his companion's constant scrutiny. Still, he was too hungry to let it get in the way of eating lunch. He hadn't realized until that moment how much he'd missed regular, human food. Food had a whole new dimension and quality to it when you could chew it and really savor the flavor.

They ate in silence, which Shinichi would have found more unnerving if he hadn't been living with the magician for the past several days. Loud and energetic though he was at school, the magician could be almost eerily quiet when he was at home by himself, moving with the practiced stealth one might expect of such a renowned thief.

When they were both done, Shinichi helped clean up the dishes and silverware before returning to the table with a cup of coffee. It was hard to believe that he hadn't had any coffee in _days_, and it helped him feel just a bit more relaxed. Relaxed enough to ask, "So what are we now?"

Reclaiming his seat with his own cup of coffee, which was really half coffee and half hot chocolate, Kaito put on a look of mock contemplation. "For now, I suppose we're friends."

_For now_... Shinichi wasn't sure he liked the "for now", but he supposed all he could do was wait and see just what the magician meant by that. He knew better than anyone that KID never said or did anything without a reason, and trying to guess those reasons was a sure way to earn yourself white hairs. You only had to look at Hakuba to realize the futility of _that_. And the "friends" part was good, because he'd been hoping that they wouldn't just go their separate ways again after this. True friendships were too rare and too valuable.

Which reminded him, "Do you think... Do you think you could come with me to the Mouris? I mean, you don't have to go in with me or anything. You could just wait outside. But I... need to tell Ran about Conan."

.

When the knock came at the door, the last thing Ran had expected was her longtime—and seemingly long lost—friend. She hadn't heard from Shinichi in months, which, sadly, wasn't all that unusual anymore. It had been the same way for the past few years and she'd stopped expecting things to be any different. Hell, she'd sort of stopped really expecting to see him again at all, except that his house was still there and his parents still came around every now and then. Yet when she answered the door, there he was, standing on the doorstep of the Mouri Detective Agency and looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Shinichi?" she asked, still not quite able to believe her eyes.

"Hi, Ran."

Two years ago, or maybe even one year ago, she would have burst into tears and hugged him. But as it were, she dithered in the doorway, not sure _what_ to do.

The longer the silence stretched on, the more uneasy Shinichi looked. His gaze dropped to his feet and he said hesitantly, "Can I come in? I have some things that I have to tell you."

"A lot of explanations, I hope," she said at last, moving out of the way and closing the door behind him.

"Um, yeah, you could say that."

Her eyebrows shot up at that. He hadn't tried to avoid her, which was definitely out of the norm for the past couple years.

Shinichi looked around the quiet apartment. "Is your father home?"

He was relieved when the answer was negative. This would be easier without Kogoro to deal with too. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face her and got straight to the point before he could change his mind. "I need to explain about Conan. You see, he... I... He was me..."

And once he'd started, the story came spilling out in a rush—that day at the amusement park, following the men in black and almost getting himself killed. Then deciding on the spur of the moment with a push from Agasa to stay with her under an alias so he wouldn't put the people around him in danger, fighting the Black Organization while he waited for Haibara to create a cure, and those long, long years as Edogawa Conan until just a few days ago when he'd returned to being Kudou Shinichi. He left out the part about turning into a bird and meeting Kaito, but even without that, it was a long enough story, and probably not an easy one to swallow.

After he'd finished, the two of them sat on the couch and Ran fiddled with the folds of her skirt, replaying the story over in her mind and matching it up with her own memories. It made sense, as unbelievable as it sounded. It all fit.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner," he apologized again, looking away.

Finally, Ran sighed. "I'm not mad at you. Not anymore, anyway. It's just going to—take some getting used to."

Odd really. She would have thought she'd be more upset. But after all this time of waiting and hoping and just living everyday life, she just felt tired and ready to move on from the entire business.

For a long time after Shinichi had left, Ran sat in the living room of the apartment she shared with her father, staring at nothing in particular. It had been such a long few years since she'd watched her childhood friend run off that day only to disappear, and it felt strange for everything to finally be over, to finally have a sense of closure. She almost wished he hadn't told her the truth. It would have been easier not to know that he'd been lying to her for so long, whatever his reasons had been. But it was probably better that he had told her, because now, she could finally move on without having to constantly look back and wonder. Her relationship with Shinichi would never be the same again, she understood that. But then, maybe it had never been what she had thought and wanted it to be, and really, she found that now—when all was said and done, she was okay with that.

A fresh start. That's what she needed. A fresh start and some time to get her life moving again.

Retrieving her cell phone, she dialed a familiar number and held the device up to her ear. "Hello? Sonoko? About that party that's coming up..."

.

Shinichi had made it halfway down the street when a shadow detached itself from an alleyway and fell into step beside him. Kaito had his hands in his jacket pockets and a calculating expression on his face.

"That seemed to go pretty well."

"I guess so." Breathing in the cool, night air, Shinichi let it out again in a long, slow sigh. "Thanks for coming with me."

"No problem."

"Am I the only one who feels at all awkward here?"

The magician cocked an eyebrow at him. "Whatever do you mean?"

Shinichi shrugged helplessly, trying to find the right words to express the feeling that had been plaguing him since becoming human again. "It's like... we've never even officially met."

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Kaito chuckled, and suddenly, Shinichi found himself being spun around to face him. He stared in confusion as the magician stepped back and then swept him a bow. "Hi, my name's Kuroba Kaito, and I'm going to be the best magician the world has ever seen. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He held out his hand and, after a moment of hesitation, Shinichi shook it. "Kudou Shinichi, and I'm a detective. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Kuroba-san."

"Call me Kaito," the magician replied, letting go of his hand and slinging his arm over Shinichi's slim shoulders. "Feel better?"

"Not really," the detective said dryly, though he didn't try to move away. He wondered if it was all that time as a dove spent in such close proximity with the magician that made him feel so comfortable around him even now.

The magician snorted then smirked. "In that case, now that we've formally introduced ourselves, I say we find somewhere to eat dinner and celebrate your newfound humanity. We can have our first proper conversation, pretend we're strangers and tell each other all those things that we already know about each other. And then we'll head back to my house and call it a night, so we can get a bright and early start tomorrow morning."

Shinichi blinked, the last part of his speech catching in his mind. "What are we doing tomorrow morning?"

Kaito waved his free hand dismissively. "I don't know yet, but I'll think of something. Now that I have you all to myself for a few days until Mom gets back..."

And it occurred to Shinichi as Kaito ushered him into the restaurant he had singled out that being human again really hadn't changed all that much between them. With how many changes had been happening in his life as of late, the realization was oddly comforting. A smile found its way onto his face, and he turned to look out the restaurant window beside them as Kaito placed their orders—just in time to see the snowflakes begin to fall.

* * *

**TBC... **

* * *

.


End file.
